Cistercian Monastery

The area that the monastery now stands in was once land that belonged to the monks of Monaincha, granted to them by the O’Carrolls.

Dr. Richard Heaton was mortgaged the land in the 17th century. The house stayed in Heaton hands for a time but was eventually held by William Armstrong who, in 1816, lost it in a card game to the Duke of York who in the same night lost it to General Taylor. He then sold it to Count Arthur Moore who gave it to Cistercian monks from Mount Melleray. The foundation stone of the church was sent to Mount Heaton from the Roman Catacombs in 1879 and the church was finally completed in 1881.